Shopping
by kayak
Summary: Nami takes the crew to a shopping mall.


Shopping

The island was called Jinza, the biggest shopping island one the Grand Line. So the stories went. Not to be confused by the actual size of the island itself, it was small in comparison to most islands Nami had been to. An average, run-of-the-mill island, complete with sandy beaches and palm trees. There wasn't any need to reset the Log Pose so the crew could leave at any time they wished.

When Nami first heard of it, she was naturally intrigued, but skeptical that such an island existed. Being an avid shopper, she was always on the prowl for bargains and deals. Being an amateur cartographer, she was constantly adding to her map collection of the world. So if Jinza was indeed the biggest shopping island, she had to draw a map of it. Afterward, she could do a little shopping. So really, she had two strong incentive to find Jinza.

Jinza could have easily not been on their route. After all, the Grand Line was vast. Who knew how many islands they passed unexplored on their journey thus far. But it so happened on the last island the Straw Hat Pirates were on, Nami finally caught wind of Jinza. She overheard a couple of old ladies speaking about it in the marketplace. From there, she pried the needed information from a local fisherman and then relieved a shady merchant captain of his Eternal Pose.

It was only one day's sailing. Less than a day if the wind was favoring them.

At first, Luffy wasn't so keen about diverting their course for a side trip and voiced his displeasure in his usual whiny tone. Shopping was something he was never interested in. Of course, it didn't take much coaxing, or verbal threatening from Nami to change his opinion. Plus the mere mention of food, especially meat, was all that was needed to convince her captain.

Surprisingly, Jinza was an ordinary summer island. It took the Thousand Sunny only the early part of the morning to circle the whole thing. There was only one mountain which was barely high enough to be considered a mountain. The only other significant feature was the cove, which was probably the main reason why the island was so attractive. A safe place to dock ships made it an ideal place to setup commerce. And there were many ships in the area. They sailed pass several vessels that morning: schooners, galleons, brigantines, whalers and even an ocean liner.

Nami blew her hair out of her eyes and and tilted her head to the side, scrutinizing her rough sketch. It wasn't much to look at and she wondered if it was really worth the time and effort to sail out here.

Luffy was lying on the lawn watching, his hands cupping his cheeks. Out of boredom, he swayed in beat to the rhythm of the rolling waves. "Are you done yet?" he asked impatiently.

"Yes," Nami replied. She strongly repressed the urge to smack him. It was the fifth time he asked her.

Nami rolled up her drawing and collected her sextant and notepad. There was no point delaying the journey anymore. She jolted down all the data she needed to chart the island. She planned to draw out the map properly later in the night. If she was in a good mood. Hopefully, what was on the island was more exciting than island itself.

"Oi, Franky! We can go!" Luffy jumped up and waved his arms wildly.

"Super. Time for a Coup de Burst!"

"Wait! We're not that far from shore." Of course no one really paid her any attention. Nami managed to grabbed the railing in time for the sudden surge in velocity. Sea water sprayed all over her clothing and her hair. She heard Usopp and Chopper screaming their lungs out. Lucky for Franky, she finished putting away her survey equipment, otherwise there would have been hell to pay if they got wet.

Now there was no question that traveling by Coup de Burst was fast, but they overshot their destination and ended up on the opposite side from where they started. It was a miracle the Thousand Sunny didn't crash into any other ships in the vicinity. Franky suggested another Coup de Burst, a mini one, but Nami put her foot down and ordered them to sail in normally. She heard a couple of grumbles, but she silenced them with one glare.

They docked without anymore incident. When it was time to decide who was to remain onboard to guard over the Thousand Sunny, the crew voted unanimously for Zoro to be the one. He could have not been selected had he simply shown up but he was sleeping again.

Jinza didn't look any different from any other island. It had its typical town and buildings. There were food stands and shops. There was an unusually large number of ships given the size of the island, but that alone couldn't make it the biggest shopping center on the Grand Line. The more they explored, the more it became apparent nothing special stood out.

Usopp inquired an old man passing by. He gave them a toothy smile and pointed to a small concrete building in the middle of town. "You wanna go to Kaimono Tengoku."

The crew headed in the direction the old man gave and found what they were looking. The building, known as Kaimono Tengoku, was just as boring as the rest of town. It was only two-story tall and bland. There didn't seem to be anything unique about it besides the stream of people heading inside.

A guy in a banana suit greeted them. It was Sanji's quick thinking that stopped Luffy from assaulting him.

"Welcome to Kaimono Tengoku." He passed each of them a brochure and a map. "Enjoy your shopping experience."

They followed corridor and they found six elevators. Three on each side. A small crowd was waiting for an elevator.

Seriously, why did the building even bother to have elevators? Nami thought. Anybody could easily get to the second floor by taking the stairs. And what did she expect to find on the second floor that was so spectacular?

Nami stared angrily at the elevator doors, tapping her foot. What a load of bull. She had her share of wild goose chases, but this was the worst. Nami wanted to complain out loud, but couldn't since it was her idea to come here in the first place.

"Come on, Nami." Usopp waved at her to get in the elevator.

Nami sighed in disappointment and followed the group in. Might as well get it over with and check out the second floor. At least they could get off the island and be back on course to the next island in no time.

The doors shut and music started to play, prompting Brook to identify the piece. Nami flipped open the brochure and skimmed pages. It had a description on the founding of the building and the mission statement, promising service and quality to everyone that came. Nothing of real importance. She took a glance at the map and then did a double take.

Did she see that right? Nami held the map with both hands and examined it carefully.

The building had 88 floors. 88 floors? 88 floors that went underground.

It had everything Nami could possibly imagine: restaurants, furniture, books, appliances, and entertainment to name a few. Clothing alone took up 12 floors, separated into groups: shoes, dresses, pants, shirts, hats, underclothes, and accessories.

The elevator stopped and Nami watched, still a little stunned, as Luffy and Chopper charged off on the candy floor, screaming uncontrollably. Usopp and Franky got off together at the next stop and headed straight for the gadgets. Robin opted for the book floor, and to Nami's surprise, suddenly invited Sanji to come along. He followed after her quite easily. Somewhat annoyed, Nami assumed she and Robin would tackle the clothing floors together.

The doors slid closed again, leaving only her and Brook.

It was kind of awkward. Actually, it was really awkward. She wasn't too comfortable being around the newest member of the crew. Most of their conversation involved him asking to see her panty, which only pissed her off. Nami made herself look busy by studying the map. Where did Brook plan to go? Nami wondered. She only had a few more floors to go before she got to the shoe floor. She noticed her ears pop.

Her floor came and she got off. When she turned to see if Brook would follow, but she only saw him tip his hat off to her just before the doors closed shut.

Well that was weird. Where was that skeleton heading off to now?

The shoe floor was packed with mostly female shoppers and lots and lots of shoes. High heels, sandals, boots, sneakers, slippers. Shoes as far as the eyes could see. If it was ever made, it was probably here.

Nami clasped her hands together and stared in awe and amazement. It was just a little overwhelming for her. She was in heaven and she didn't know where to begin.

Then Nami lamented. She was alone. There was no one to share her joy and excitement. Nami would have much preferred to have gone shopping with Robin. Nami always valued her opinion on clothes. Even Sanji would been okay to have along even though he only wanted to see her dress in skimpy outfits. At least, he was very good at carrying her purchases.

How did she end up by herself? What had brought about Robin's invitation? Nami rarely seen Sanji and Robin together, except when he was serving her drinks and snacks. Sanji usually had his own grocery shopping he did on his own and Robin almost always hanged out with her. So why didn't Robin ask her instead? Nami liked books, not as passionately as Robin did, but she spent a lot of time in the library reading. All three of them could have gone together.

Nami pushed them out of her mind. She was over-analyzing it, but it still nagged at her in the back of her mind. Shopping by herself wasn't as much fun, but she could always go where she wanted to.

On her way to the boot section, Nami discovered the floor was connected to the adjacent floors with escalators. If she wanted to, she could travel the floors without using the elevator, which could take too much time waiting for if she only wanted to move up or down a few floors.

Nami found a pair of high heel leather boots that went pass the knees. It was a similar style that Robin owned. She was tempted to buy them but ended up not getting them when she couldn't haggle down the price. The clerk was firm and unyielding. Disgruntled, she left the boots on the counter and stormed off.

If she couldn't banter down the prices what was the point of shopping here.

Deflated at the fixed prices, she wandered the aisles, very bored and frustrated.

It was as if the shopping gods heard her plead and answered her in the form of the overhead PA speakers: "Yellow Sale on women purses. 75% off on all women purses."

Nami watched a large group of women immediately stop their shopping and head straight to either the escalators or the elevators. Some were literally running, shoving pass the slower moving women.

The purse part of the announcement meant very little to Nami. Purses were pointless in her opinion. She stuffed all her valuables down her bra where they were safe and close. Purses were also prone to thieves and pickpockets.

No, it was the 75% off sale that piqued her interest.

"What's a Yellow Sale?" she asked a young male clerk.

"It's one of those random sales that comes up." He didn't look up and was busying boxing up stray shoes.

"Random sales?"

"It's all in the brochure," he stated tersely. "Yellow sales are 75% off and lasts for 20 minutes. Green sales are 50% off and lasts for 30 minutes. Blue sales are 25% off. They last the longest at one hour."

He ignored her after that and walked off with an armful of shoe boxes.

Nami brought out the brochure and took another read at it. Sure enough, like the clerk explained, there were the random sales on the clothes floors. They were given to the customers for a bit of fun and adventure. What he neglected to mention to her was the super rare Red Sales: 90% off, lasting only 10 minutes long.

Red Sale! At 90% off!

Her eyes widened. Things got a whole lot more interesting.

After two hours of shopping, Nami had two bags full of clothes. She had heard the PA speakers announce a lot of Blue and Green Sales, but only 3 Yellow Sales so far. She ignored the Blue and Green. They weren't worth her time and beri. The Yellow Sales, she had to pick up the pace since they only lasted 20 minutes. It didn't help that there were dozen and dozen of women trying to get to the Yellow Sales as well. The elevators and escalators were always crowded, but Nami managed to squeeze in between people easily enough.

Her meandering brought her down another floor straight into a strange sight. Several women of various age passed her, looking very upset. Some of them appeared pale and frightened.

"What's going on?" Nami asked a young girl with dark pigtails.

"This floor is haunted," the girl said in one breath. She didn't stop her fast pace and hurried to the nearest escalator.

Haunted?

Her eyebrow raised. Nami had a sneaking suspicion and decided to head in the direction of the commotion. It wasn't long before she confirmed her suspicion.

The idiot had gone on a panty raid and was tossing undergarments all around. There were mostly panties, but there were also bras and stockings mixed in. By the time Nami finally reached him, ready to scold him, Brook was buried deep in a mountain of women's undergarments, laughing like a madman.

"What do you think you are doing? You're scaring everyone here."

"Yoohoohoo! Nami-san. It's magnificent! So many panties!" Again he threw panties in the air and they rained back down on his head. A few got caught in his Afro.

"Come on let's go, before you get us kicked out."

Brook booed her for ruining his party, but he relented. Nami grabbed his bony hand and tried to pulled him out, but he didn't budge. He was stuck. For a man made only of bones, Nami had an impossible time freeing him from the panties.

"How did you get yourself in this mess?" She tried pushing some of underwear off of him, but there were so many. At that moment, the PA speakers rang. Nami suddenly stopped and listened.

"Blue Sale on hats. 25% off on all hats."

Nami grunted. Waste of time. Another boring Blue Sale, and on hats of all things. Hats were so passe.

"Nami-swan!" a familiar voice screeched. "I finally found you!"

Nami shook her head. Why was she not surprised to find both Brook and Sanji here on the lingerie floor, she wondered. She put on her best smile and turned to greet him.

Sanji jogged excitedly to her, his hands swaying in the air like a couple of palm trees in a strong breeze. He acted like he hadn't seen her for days. And was he even crying? He carried a shopping bag, which seemed kind of empty to Nami.

After Nami calmed Sanji down a bit, she switched his attention to Brook and his situation. Sanji immediately set out to liberate him. A bit of digging and pulling did the trick and Brook was finally freed.

"Yoohoohoo," Brook laughed.

"Don't let it happen again."

Sanji insisted on carrying her bags. There was no protest from Nami. Together the three of them headed to the last clothing floor. People still gave Brook strange looks, but at least they weren't running away from him.

Subtly, Nami inquired where Robin was and if Sanji made any purchases on the book floor. It was not like she was really interested to know what they were doing together. She was just making conversation.

Sanji happily showed off his single purchase: a collection of short stories from West Blue. Then he praised Robin's wonderful brilliance and thoughtfulness. Brook became nosy and asked to see the tome himself.

Maybe it was time to round up the rest of the crew and head back to the ship. It would probably take them the rest of the day just to find everyone.

The PA rang: "Red Sale on shoes. 90% off on all shoes."

The world suddenly stood still for Nami. All she heard were those wonderful words.

Then Nami snapped herself out of her euphoria to realize where she was. Cursing her luck, she saw was 11 floors away from the shoe floor. She needed to use the elevator. Fast. Every second counted. She hurried with Sanji and Brook following close behind, both looking very befuddled.

Nami let out a wail of despair and almost dissolved into tears when she saw the elevators. There a solid wall, no, more like an avalanche of shoppers smashed against the elevators. It seemed everyone was out to get to the shoe floor.

There was no way she would make it to the elevators in time. How could the shopping gods turn their backs on her?

Nami's eyes scanned the situation, looking for another way. There had to be another way. Then her eyes fell on a scrawny fellow walking towards the cash register. The same retail clerk that she talked to earlier before on the shoe floor. How in the world did he get down here?

No time to be meek and polite, shoes were at stake. Nami grabbed him by the scruff of the collar and shouted at him. "Where's the elevator?"

"What? What elevator?" he asked, flabbergasted. He looked to Sanji and Brook for help, but the two could only shrug their shoulders at him.

"I know there is another elevator. Where is it?" Nami snarled.

With a shaking finger, the clerk pointed down the hallway. They followed it and went around the corner. Nami was still holding onto the clerk in case he was lying.

It was a small, beat-up maintenance elevator. Nami pushed the button and was relieved to see it was working. It only took a moment before the doors slid opened. The interior was very dark.

"The light bulb is broken. They haven't fixed it in weeks," the clerk explained, rubbing his neck.

Nami finally released her hold on the clerk and she was staring at the elevator. She took a tentative step inside and turned to look at Sanji and Brook.

"I'm scared of the dark," Brook mumbled, grasping his hands together and holding them against his chest like he was about to pray.

"I'll go anywhere with you, Nami-swan!" No surprise from Sanji. He bounded and danced to her side.

Nami rolled her eyes. "Fine. You should go find Luffy and the others. We'll meet back at the Sunny," she told Brook.

A sudden shocking realization smacked Nami right in the face as she pressed the elevator button. Did she lose all her braincells? She just got in the elevator with a busted light with Sanji. By the then it was already too late. The elevator doors were closed.

Brook frowned. He didn't like the look of that elevator. Not only was it dark, it was small and he was a tad bit claustrophobic as well. He watched the numbers on the elevator go up one by and by until it stopped blinking. Then there was no number flashing at all. "Excuse me, sir. Is that suppose to happen?" he asked the clerk.

The clerk, exhausted, looked up. "It does that from time to time. Give it a second and it'll go again."

A few minutes went by and it was clear: It wasn't going to go again.

The clerk contacted his supervisor, who then contacted service maintenance only to be told that they were on their lunch break. The supervisor would have to pay them a late lunch if he wanted them to fix the elevator right there and then. He only snorted and told them to forget it. "They can wait," he said to a nervous Brook.

And so the whole crew waited.

The service maintenance finally came back from the extended lunch and fixed the elevator. Actually, all they did was turn the power off and let the elevator drop slowly to the bottom floor, where they pried the doors apart.

Unceremoniously, Nami and Sanji came out like nothing at all happened. Sanji calmly lit up a cigarette, still carrying Nami's shopping bags. Nami was pissed for missing the grand shoe sale.

Then Usopp spotted something strange. "Hey Sanji, aren't you wearing Nami's shirt?"

Panic-stricken, Nami stared down at her shirt and then at Sanji's. Brook couldn't recall what they wore in the morning, but he was certain Sanji wasn't wearing a pink shirt. He tried not to snicker at the implication.

"How did that happen?" Chopper asked in all his innocence.

More than half the crew was giggling. The ones who didn't, didn't have a clue what was going on.

"I think you have it wrong, Usopp," Sanji said menacingly. He approached Usopp, blowing a stream of smoke in his face. "This is my shirt." He had that scary tone in his voice, telling Usopp not to mess with him.

Usopp laughed weakly. "Oh yeah. I forgot." He ran behind Franky.

Nami let out a sigh of relief.

Thus end the obnoxious long tale of how Sanji got his pink shirt. He wears it whenever he is feeling lonely and missing Nami.


End file.
